Seth J. Bokpe's Ghana Newsreel

Residents of Accra New Town have called on the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to consider, as a matter of urgency, the construction of the big drain that runs through the community from Kotobabi. They contend that failure to construct the drain will amount to inviting malaria and cholera epidemics. The drain in question is filled with garbage, comprising plastic bags, empty water sachets and human waste. The stench from the drain fills the air, making breathing an arduous task and domestic animals are seen always feasting in the drain. A fish-smoking oven and a 'pito' joint sited close to the edge of the drain seem to be struggling for position with the rubbish thrown around. Even though part of the drain which joins a bigger storm drain at Nima has been constructed, the bigger portion has been left unconstructed leaving room for some recalcitrant members of the community to throw their rubbish around while others have turned it into their place of convenience. ...

The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has pledged to work in concert with the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) to advance the development of the Accra metropolis and the rest of the country. The two entities committed themselves to open their doors to each other for regular consultations and co-operation in the execution of their mandates and vision. These were the highlights of a meeting between the Chief Executive of the AMA, Mr Alfred O. Vanderpuye, and the Managing Director of the GCGL, Mr Ken Ashiegbey, in Accra yesterday. The meeting was for the two organisations to strengthen their existing relationship and also explore possible areas of co-operation for their mutual benefit. In his remarks, Mr Vanderpuye said in bid to improve academic work in schools, the AMA supplied 17,000 dual desks to basic schools within the metropolis last year. Similarly, the city authority was on course to complete the 38 millennium city school projects it initiated two years ago ...

THE Accra Metropolitan Assembly(AMA) is to commit two million Ghana Cedis to feasibility studies to upgrade some old settlements in the metropolis. The project, which forms part of the city authority's rural housing project, will take off next year in communities which include Nima, Korle Gonno and Ga Mashie. Similarly sports facilities in Chorkor, Dansoman, Agbogbloshie , La and Mamprobi will either be reconstrcuted or will all be given facelifts. The Mayor of Accra, Mr Alfred Okoe Vanderpuye , announced the packages at the hearing and launch of the maiden Greater Accra Composite Budget in Accra. The AMa has budgeted to spend some GHC 202, 509, 249 in 2012 for projects including roads, the reconstrcution of some selected markets, and the construction of educational and health infastructures, waste management and agriculture among others. The Composite Budget is an integrated metropolitan, municipal or district budget, that incorporates all budgets of the decentralised d...

The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development has directed all Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies to review the performance of waste management companies they have engaged. That according to the sector Minister, Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, is to ensure that only companies that have the capacity to deal with waste collection and management efficiently are given the task. Mr Ampofo noted that “the government pumps millions of cedis to support the activities of the MMDAs in the collection and disposal of waste hence would not tolerate any underperformance”. The minister gave the hint on the sidelines of a clean exercise organized by the ministry with the support of Zoomlion, as part of activities marking the Christmas festivities in Tema. Similar exercises, according to the minister, have been organised in other parts of the country in order to clear the waste that come with the celebration. At Tema Community Two, the minister joined hands with youth groups, op...

Statistics from the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) and waste management bodies indicate that some 270 tonnes of plastic waste is generated each day in Accra alone.  The staggering figure has brought together students from the Lincoln Community School (LCS) and the 48 Engineering School, both in Accra, to engineer means to reduce the plastic waste menace in the city. Under the project, students from the two schools have developed an environmental awareness campaign that emphasises the inherent problems associated with plastic waste. At a programme at Teshie in Accra last Friday, the students used dance, songs, a dramatic sketch written by them, as well as a presentation, to illustrate the danger posed by plastic waste to the environment. The presentation painted a gloomy picture for the country’s environment if the current trend continued. It also defined the problem locally and connected it to the larger global issue.  Pictures rolled by showing animals and fish t...

Some workers of the State Housing Company (SHC), have demanded the immediate reinstatement of their Managing Director, Mr Mark Nii Akwei Ankrah, for the smooth running of the company’s operations. According to them, Mr Ankrah’s absence from office is stifling the company’s operations and frustrating the range of strategic investors that have come on board since he took office a year ago. "We want them (the authorities) to bring our MD back,”  some executive members of the senior staff association and the staff union, who claimed anonymity told the Daily Graphic in Accra. Mr Ankrah, a social housing specialist, was appointed to the position in February, 2010. He was, however, directed to proceed on leave in December, 2010 for the Ministry of Water Resources Works and Housing to investigate allegations levelled against him by some staff members. Prior to that, the SHC Board had investigated some allegations and submitted their findings to the ministry but the ministry decide...

A TASK force of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) last Saturday reduced a chain of unauthorised mobile phone shops at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle into a pile of debris. Some of the traders arrived for business on Monday morning to find their structures and wares demolished. When the Daily Graphic arrived at the scene, what was known to be a vibrant mobile phone shopping corner had been thrown into a state of disarray, with the traders cursing members of the task force. Containers and wooden structures had been crushed, with destroyed mobile phones and accessories scattered all over. The traders were seen retrieving the remnants of their goods from the rubble. Chairs, tables, plates and plastic ware belonging to food vendors were also scattered all over the place. Narrating the events leading to the demolition to the Daily Graphic, a mobile phone dealer, Mr Joseph Manu, said a team of policemen and the AMA task force arrived at the place at 5 a.m. and ordered him and others ou...

ZOOMLION Ghana Limited in a move to give waste management in Accra and its environs a boost, is establishing a multi-purpose waste disposal site at Adjen-Kotoku in the Ga West Municipality in the Greater Accra Region. The  $ 15 million- project which is expected to be completed in February next year would receive 300 tonnes of waste from Accra and its environs. The project would house facilities including refuse sorting and composting sections which would help produce organic manure and also generate plastic waste for recycling. At a public hearing on the project to educate and solicit the views of the host community on the project, a representative of Zoomlion, Mr George Rockson, allayed the fears of the community that it would bring to the communities,  stench, insects and environmental pollution. Commenting on the plant’s mechanism to control pollution, he said the waste collected would be covered in a manner that would not expose it in addition to the planting of...